"Quan, you're quite the rare visitor these days. There was a ti when you'd co over every few days to mooch food and drink, and even girls, but now it's hard to even catch a glimpse of you." The middle-aged man, dressed in a white embroidered Malaysia coat, linen trousers, and old cloth shoes, clutched a small goldfish in his hand as he smiled at Huang Quan, who sat opposite him with his legs crossed, sipping tea.
Huang Quan was by no ans refined. He held the teacup and slurped the tea noisily, swished it around in his mouth a few tis, then gulped it down, appearing utterly uncouth.
The man in the coat laughed and said, "You're really wasting it, do you know what kind of tea you're drinking?"
Although Huang Quan was never one for sophistication, he had enjoyed his share of fine things. With a snort, he said, "It tastes about the sa as the swill they sell on street stalls. I don't care what kind of tea it is. That's the problem with you, Lao Shun, you always have to dissect everything."
The man called Lao Shun laughed heartily and said, "What, are we living in a communist paradise now, where material needs are t, and we must indulge a little in spiritual life too, otherwise it'd be so dull."
"Alright then, please enlighten , old man Lao Shun. What's so special about this average-tasting crappy tea?"
Lao Shun tossed the gold bar he held in his hand and pointed to the sky, saying, "The taste of this tea may be lacking, but it's not grown on Earth. It's from a tea-like plant they found on Erald Sea Star, and then they grafted it with our Earth's Dragon Well green tea to create this new tea variety. It's also the very first type of tea from Erald Sea Star. Only two hundred pounds were produced in total, most of it went to research, and a small portion made it to the market. It's now a hot commodity in the tea collecting market, priceless, and I had to spend over a hundred thousand Star Alliance Currency to get this little bit."
Huang Quan grimaced and said, "You, Lao Shun, are still a rich man in any era. I, as a military officer, make only about a hundred thousand a year. A hundred thousand Star Alliance Currency can damn well buy you a private plane these days."
Lao Shun's face was still all smiles as he waved his hand, "Private planes are out of style now. I just bought a private spaceship two months ago."
A curse imdiately tumbled out of Huang Quan's mouth, "Fuck."
The two grew up together, with Lao Shun being older than Huang Quan. They ca from similar backgrounds, both hailing from powerful and privileged families. Huang Quan had always been in the military, while Lao Shun had a knack for business. In the last years of the old era, there was a fierce anti-corruption campaign dostically, but businessn like Lao Shun were not affected. It wasn't because he had strong backing, as Lao Shun's family no longer held high office positions; he was simply low-key and cautious, and he conducted his business steadily, rarely making any major missteps.
Speaking of which, the high-level restaurant that Bai Zhongqi was taken to by Yang Yixian was actually owned by Lao Shun.
Huang Quan didn't visit Earth much anymore either, always on the move with the Fleet. It wasn't easy to co back to his hotown once in a while to catch up with friends like Lao Shun.
"Lao Shun, what kind of business are you into now that you're making such a fortune?" Huang Quan had to admit he admired his childhood friend. He knew many businessn who had no choice but to leave the industry with their hard-earned wealth in the wake of the massive transformation that swept the world.
The vast public economy of the Star Alliance had aggressively cleansed nearly all industries, leaving no room for old businesses to compete. Coupled with various policies released by the Star Alliance, a large number of talents from private enterprises either chose to switch to public enterprises or to start their own businesses. Private companies were struggling to recruit people, whether ordinary workers or managent talents. There were even companies that collapsed simply due to a lack of staff. Find more adventures on My Virtual Library Empire
Lao Shun was fidgeting with his small gold bar and sighed, "Doing business is indeed much harder than before, and opportunities have narrowed significantly. You either have the ability to sign supply agreents with the governnt for guaranteed sales, or you take so risks and engage in more profitable ventures. I've mostly sold off my real estate holdings. If it weren't for the basic inco everyone now has, the previous housing market crash in first and second-tier cities would have led many to jump off buildings high enough to reach the sky. The Asset Managent Bureau has too many construction companies to compete with on big projects, and now with the national real estate market tightly controlled, the Star Alliance is deliberately pushing the population to other planets."
Huang Quan asked with interest, "So you're not in real estate anymore?"
Lao Shun replied, "I am, but not on the sa scale. After getting the technology, I reorganized into a new real estate developnt company. Although the Asset Managent Bureau has many construction companies, it can't cover the entire Star Alliance, especially backward regions or places like Erald Sea Star, Lieque Star, where there are always people who want to build but can't find public companies to do it. However, my new property company, though smaller in scale than before, handles much larger projects. I also don't mind telling you that the Star Alliance is currently brewing a series of developnt projects for Lingge Star. So projects are so big they're scary, including developing an entire new city's architecture, city planning, and construction over hundreds of square kiloters. If I can land such a gig, then I'll really strike it rich."
Huang Quan chuckled, "Then I'll congratulate you in advance, Lao Shun, for the rivers of wealth flowing your way."
Lao Shun was quite talkative. Sipping his tea, he boasted, "What's most abundant in the Star Alliance now? Land, haha, but hell, it can't just be called land, it should be called an abundance of planets. We contracting companies have many paynt options to choose from. I'm not short on money right now, I'm planning to take a piece of land. I haven't decided yet whether I want land on a habitable planet or to get so mining rights on a resource planet. Let tell you, the most lucrative part of my funds cos from mining. The Star Alliance's manufacturing capabilities are so strong, it's not lacking in any manufacturing industry, the only shortfall is the resource supply. As production scales up, material supply becos an issue, so the Star Alliance really encourages private capital to enter the mining industry."
Huang Quan asked with a smile, "So you've made it big too, Lao Shun, even mining on other planets?"
"It's nothing really, I've got two mining areas on Venus. I know a formidable Wenzhou businessman who has mined beyond the Danlu Interstellar Cloud. But the transportation costs are quite high; I'm not very optimistic about it."
Lao Shun tempted Huang Quan by saying, "Look, Quan, you're also highly valued in the military, but if you ever get tired of it, co find , Lao Shun. We'll easily make tens of billions of Star Alliance Currency and then go buy a small planet to be Emperors, hahaha."
Huang Quan scoffed, "Keep dreaming. All the planets occupied by citizens of the Star Alliance co under Star Alliance territory and are governed by its laws. Even if you own the land, it's still the Star Alliance governnt that rules you. Besides, I enjoy my ti in the Universe Army, and fighting those aliens is beneficial to my health. Everyone has their own ambitions; your line of business just isn't my cup of tea."
Lao Shun laughed, "Alright then, as long as you're happy. It's not often you co back here, so tonight you better have fun with ."
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